The European Union will decide on February 13th whether or not to give its blessing to Google’s planned purchase of Motorola Mobility. Google recently provided European courts with more information in support of the merger, Reuters said. The European Union suspended its review of the merger on December 12th pending Google’s submission of documents that are considered “essential to its evaluation of the transaction.” Google announced on August 15th its intentions to purchase Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion and said the purchase will bolster its patent portfolio and help it defend its Android partners against competitors such as Apple and Microsoft.

Read

Research In Motion is currently weighing every single option it can think of in an effort to reverse a negative trend that is approaching a boiling point for investors. Reports that RIM is currently in talks to license its software to other vendors are accurate according to our trusted sources, though we have been told that RIM is most likely leaning toward an outright sale of one or more divisions, or even the whole company. The front runner, we have been told by a trusted source with knowledge of the situation, is Samsung, which might be interested in RIM for a number of reasons.

One of the biggest assets RIM has is BlackBerry Messenger, and it would be a smart way for Samsung to differentiate itself inside the Android ecosystem. HTC has its Sense suite and it recently bought into Beats by Dr. Dre. Samsung could buy RIM, or a part of the company, and integrate not only BBM but also several other enterprise features into Android to make its devices an even bigger threat to competitors. This could also help Samsung better differentiate itself on the software and OS level, pulling more control into its hands and away from Google.

We have heard that Jim Balsillie is actively meeting with almost every company that might be interested in either a part or all of RIM, in addition to having talks about licensing. “Jim is going hard after Samsung,” said a source with knowledge of the negotiations. One of the reasons no deal has been struck, however, is that RIM’s co-CEOs are asking for way too much.

We have heard the company is looking for more than $10 billion for a full sale, likely somewhere in the $12 billion to $15 billion range, or between approximately $22.90 and $28.60 per share. RIM’s market capitalization currently sits at about $8.5 billion, though several analysts think that even $8.5 billion is more than an interested party would consider bidding at the moment.

Samsung declined to comment and a spokesperson for RIM did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It’s certainly an interesting time at Research In Motion, and we’ll have much more on RIM in the coming days.

UPDATE: In a statement provided to Reuters Wednesday evening, a Samsung spokesman said the company is not interested in an outright purchase of Research In Motion. The spokesman did not address reports that Samsung is considering licensing RIM’s software, however, or purchasing a portion of RIM’s assets.

Nokia has acquired Oslo, Norway-based cell phone operating system developer Smarterphone AS as it prepares to launch a reinvigorated attack on emerging markets. The transaction was completed in November 2011 according to major investor Ferd Capital, and the terms of the deal were not disclosed. Smarterphone AS has built a proprietary operating system that is designed to provide “highly advanced functionality on very moderate hardware.” While Nokia’s smartphone lineup is now powered by Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system, Smarterphone’s feature phone platform is seemingly well aligned with Nokia’s recent work on a secret platform that will bring enhanced capabilities to low-end hardware. BGR exclusively reported details surrounding the secret OS last September and again in October, though it is unclear whether the Finnish vendor plans to integrate Smarterphone’s platform with its own OS, or if the new platform will replace the software that Nokia had in development. Ferd Capital’s full press release follows below.

Ferd Capital sells Smarterphone AS to Nokia

05.01.2012

Ferd Capital has sold its portfolio company Smarterphone AS (Formerly Kvaleberg AS) to Nokia Corporation (OMX: NOK1V, NYSE:NOK, FWB: NOA3), the world’s leading producer of mobile phones. The transaction was completed in November 2011.

Smarterphone is based in Oslo, Norway and delivers an operating system for the feature phone segment of mobile handsets. The software makes it possible to deliver a user experience similar to smart phones on affordable hardware, and allows unique flexibility for tailoring handset software to different markets. Ferd Capital invested in the company in 2007 and has invested a total of 6,5 MEUR in the company.

“Egil Kvaleberg is a world class software architect and founder. His internationally recruited and unique team situated in Oslo has created an operating system for lower end mobile phone that provides highly advanced functionality on very moderate hardware” says Annar Bohn, Investment manager in Ferd Capital. “Our belief in the team, technology and the long term market for feature phones remains firm, and we believe the company has now found a fantastic new home with Nokia”, he continues.

“Ferd Capital is an active Nordic investor in both the venture and buy-out segments of private equity and see continued strong opportunities within both segments” says Bjørn Erik Reinseth, Partner in Ferd Capital. “Large international players acquiring Norwegian technology companies is a strong recognition and a good foundation for future innovation and growth “, continues Reinseth.

In addition to Ferd Capital, The company was also financed by Innovation Norway, Haavard Nord (Trolltech founder) and Lars Øberg. Carnegie acted as advisor to the selling shareholders.

2011 was a wild, wild year to follow the technology industry. AT&T failed to buy T-Mobile USA, things got rough for RIM and Apple and Samsung fought legal battles all over the world. Still, one of the biggest stories of the year began when Google announced in August that it planned to purchase Motorola Mobility, a member of the open handset alliance, for $12.5 billion. Pundits immediately needed to know one thing: what did Google’s other Android partners think? Surprisingly, HTC, Samsung, LG and Sony Ericsson all voiced support for the acquisition. But why? At first it appeared that Google just wanted to control the entire Android experience, from software to hardware, but CEO Larry Page soon put a second piece of the puzzle into place: the acquisition could offer Android partners a safe haven against litigation from Apple and Microsoft.

Page explained in detail that Google needed Motorola Mobility’s patents in order to protect itself and its Android partners from patent predators like Apple and Microsoft. Google’s Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer David Drummond had accused the companies of trying to strangle the success of Android by creating patent lawsuits instead of truly innovating and competing in the smartphone market. While many would argue that Microsoft and Apple are both innovative companies, Drummond had a point. Apple currently has 21 patents-in-suit against Motorola Mobility and Microsoft has already strong armed major Android players, including HTC and Samsung, into patent licensing deals. With Motorola Mobility’s patents under its wing, Google could finally have some firepower of its own in court. But can Google really protect Android by purchasing Motorola Mobility? At least one expert has suggested the company might be buying a lemon.

David Martin, CEO of patent consulting firm M-Cam, argued that Motorola Mobility already sold off all of its valuable patents. “What they bought is crap, because at the end of the day Motorola sold off its good assets,” Martin told Bloomberg in an interview. “Back in the early years, Motorola sold off some MPEG patents to GE in a securitization deal. After that, they took a bunch of the Freescale patents and sold those off.” Martin suggests that Google may have actually now face more patent lawsuits as a result of the acquisition.

Apple clearly has at least some concerns about the deal, though. In September it asked a judge to halt two lawsuits – one filed by Motorola Mobility and the other by Apple — and said “Apple should not have to face the threat of an injunction based on the claims of a party that now has no standing to bring those claims.” Those lawsuits could sit in limbo for a while. Despite gaining early approval from Motorola Mobility’s shareholders with 99% of shareholders voting in favor of the deal, the purchase is still far from a being done deal.

In September the Department of Justice said that it wanted more information on the deal. “While this means we won’t be closing right away, we’re confident that the DOJ will conclude that the rapidly growing mobile ecosystem will remain highly competitive after this deal closes,” Google senior vice president Dennis Woodside explained. “We’ll be working closely and cooperatively with them as they continue their review.” The acquisition also hit a speed bump in Europe when the European Union announced that it was suspending its investigation of the acquisition entirely until more information is made available.

So what’s next for the Google/Motorola partnership? The latest rumors suggest that Google has plans to market its own Nexus-branded tablet, and the device could land on store shelves in mid-2012. Unfortunately, while Google’s partners may have patent protection, the new tablet could cannibalize sales of their slates. Rumors suggest that the Nexus tablet will run a new version of Android that will, initially, only be available on the Google’s device. That means consumers could gravitate to the newer software available on the Nexus as opposed to older builds available on tablets from other vendors.

Will Google’s planned acquisition gain government approval? Does it have a tablet up its sleeves? If it does complete the acquisition, will Google will come to bat for Barnes & Noble, which is currently the target of a Microsoft patent lawsuit, or help defend Amazon’s Android-powered Kindle Fire? We’ll certainly find the answers to those questions and more during the next 12 months, which will no doubt prove to be just as exciting as the past 12.

AT&T made headlines in March of this year when it announced plans to acquire T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom for $39 billion. Here we are nine months later and the deal is dead in the water, but there was a huge game of tug-of-war going on all year between AT&T, policy makers, the government and AT&T’s competitors. There were points when it seemed that the merger was bound for approval, and others where it seemed fairly certain that the government would reject AT&T’s application. The only thing we knew for sure is that this deal, if approved, would change the wireless landscape in the U.S. forever. Read on for more.

AT&T’s announcement to acquire T-Mobile USA was almost immediately met with strong resistance from its competitors, Sprint in particular. While Verizon Wireless supported the deal, Sprint and several regional carriers voiced strong opposition. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said the merger would “stifle innovation” and would leave Verizon Wireless and AT&T controlling 97% of the U.S. wireless market. AT&T Mobility boss Ralph de la Vega, however, argued that the merger would address spectrum shortage concerns in the United States and would help deliver mobile broadband to more people in areas without wireless service. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson also said the merger would result in “net job creation.”

Despite the resistance from others, AT&T’s General Counsel Wayne Watts said in June that the merger was on schedule for approval in March of 2012. Less than a month later, however, the tide began to turn against AT&T when Senator Herb Kohl, chairman of the Senate’s antitrust subcommittee said “I have concluded that this acquisition, if permitted to proceed, would likely cause substantial harm to competition and consumers, would be contrary to antitrust law and not in the public interest, and therefore should be blocked by your agencies.” That was just the start of the government’s opposition, and AT&T soon began to face much more serious problems.

In August, the Federal Communications Commission announced that it planned to review AT&T’s panned $1.925 billion acquisition of Qualcomm’s FLO TV lower 700MHz frequency band spectrum at the same time as the company’s planned T-Mobile merger. This no doubt highlighted the government’s concerns that AT&T might control too much wireless spectrum if it was allowed to purchase both T-Mobile USA and Qualcomm’s spectrum.

Things really started to heat up in August.

The Justice Department, which had been reviewing the merger for several months, decided to sue AT&T in an effort to block the acquisition in late August. The U.S. government wasn’t just worried that AT&T’s merger would create a duopoly, however. It also feared that allowing AT&T to purchase T-Mobile could result in job cuts, not job creation. AT&T addressed both concerns by promising to bring back 5,000 call center jobs from overseas, and rumors suggested the carrier was considering to sell off as much as $8 billion in assets to other companies. The FCC, however, said AT&T hadn’t ever proved how it planned to create new jobs, even though unions such as the Communications Workers of America argued the merger could create as many as 96,000 additional jobs in the United States.

It became clear later in the year that the merger was in dire straits when AT&T decided to pull its FCC application to purchase T-Mobile altogether, to instead focus on its lawsuit with the Justice Department. Should the carrier have won the lawsuit with the DoJ, it would have no doubt used the ruling as ammo in its bid to gain the FCC’s approval in a future application. Unfortunately, the merger was already on life support by this point.

The FCC’s concerns were aired out in late November when the agency released preliminary thoughts on the merger to the public, which suggested the merger was not going to go through. AT&T argued that blocking the deal would increase prices across the industry, but it was already too late for arguments. Three days later, AT&T asked the court to delay its suit with the Department of Justice. The DoJ was clearly on the same page; it also asked the court to toss or delay the lawsuit, and said that there was no need for a case since AT&T no longer had an active application filed to purchase T-Mobile USA. A judge quickly approved both requests for a stay, but that delay quickly became irrelevant.

On December 19th, AT&T announced that it was canceling its plans to acquire T-Mobile USA. As a result, it paid Deutsche Telekom $3 billion as part of a promised breakup fee and provided T-Mobile USA with AWS spectrum and a 3G roaming agreement. All was not lost, however. The FCC had promised to review AT&T’s planned purchase of Qualcomm’s spectrum at the same time as the merger, and as a result of AT&T pulling out of the deal, granted AT&T its blessing to purchase the added spectrum.

AT&T’s failed acquisition of T-Mobile USA certainly took up the better part of this year, and it was one of the more compelling stories to follow closely. 2012 will be a year to watch T-Mobile USA, as it struggles to hold on to fleeing contract customers and remain competitive with AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint, all of which have plans for faster nationwide 4G LTE networks.

Research In Motion reportedly cut short takeover talks with Amazon and other companies, preferring to instead attempt to solve its own financial woes. Reuters broke news of the discussions Tuesday evening. Amazon allegedly hired an investment bank to help guide discussions with the BlackBerry maker, but it’s unclear how far along the talks got before RIM turned the retail giant away. Sources speaking to Reuters said RIM is not currently interested in a sale or a joint venture and would instead prefer to license its technology. ”Selling the company or an economic joint venture is probably not in the cards right now,” the anonymous source told Reuters. “Until you stabilize the platform, people are going to be very nervous about spending $10 billion or more.” Read on for more.

Several analysts have suggested that RIM needs to change its leadership to turn the ship around. Jaguar Financial Corporation, which holds 5% of RIM’s stock, asked the company to consider a sale last week and called on directors to “seize the reins to maximize shareholder value before more market value is lost.” While RIM’s global subscriber based continued to grow during the third quarter, the company has lost market share in the United States. Reuters also said the company’s market value has slid 77% to $6.8 billion over the past year.

Read

Nuance announced on Tuesday that it plans to acquire Vlingo, a voice-to-text and voice recognition technology firm that was once the subject of a Nuance lawsuit. Nuance senior manager Mike Thompson said the decision was made after his company realized there’s a $5 billion market opportunity as demand increases for voice engine products such as Apple’s Siri voice engine, which is powered in part by Nuance technology. “Inspired by the introduction of services such as Apple’s Siri and our own Dragon Go!, virtually every mobile and consumer electronics company on the planet is looking for ways to integrate natural, conversational voice interactions into their mobile products, applications, and services,” Mike Thompson, Senior Vice President and General Manager, of Nuance Mobile said. “By acquiring Vlingo, we are able to accelerate the pace of innovation to meet this demand.” The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Nuance’s full press release follows after the break.

Nuance to acquire Vlingo

Burlington, Mass. – December 20, 2011 – Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Vlingo, Inc. Fueled by unprecedented demand for intelligent voice interfaces that combine voice, language understanding and semantic processing, Nuance and Vlingo will combine their deep innovation and R&D expertise to deliver next-generation natural language interfaces across numerous markets and industries.

Consumer interest and demand for virtual assistant and voice-enabled capabilities have exploded in recent months, creating a $5 billion market opportunity that spans phones, tablets, cars, televisions, navigation devices, music players, PCs and more. Both Nuance and Vlingo see an unprecedented appetite for intelligent devices that understand the spoken word and deliver outcomes for consumers and professionals.

“Inspired by the introduction of services such as Apple’s Siri and our own Dragon Go!, virtually every mobile and consumer electronics company on the planet is looking for ways to integrate natural, conversational voice interactions into their mobile products, applications, and services,” said Mike Thompson, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Nuance Mobile.  “By acquiring Vlingo, we are able to accelerate the pace of innovation to meet this demand.”

“Vlingo and Nuance have long shared a similar vision for the power and global proliferation of mobile voice and language understanding. As a result of our complementary research and development efforts, our companies are stronger together than alone. Our combined resources afford us the opportunity to better compete, and offer a powerful proposition to customers, partners and developers,” said Dave Grannan, CEO, Vlingo.

By harnessing the combined expertise in voice, language and multilingual capabilities, Nuance will be able to take advantage of the adoption of intelligent mobile assistants, where consumers, businesses, doctors and patients can engage in more human, natural interactions with devices and systems all over the world.

Apple has reportedly completed its acquisition of Israel-based flash memory firm Anobit in a deal worth up to $500 million. Hebrew-language financial newspaper Calcalist on Tuesday claimed that a deal had been reached after reporting earlier this month that Apple was in late-stage talks to buy the fabless chip maker. Apple has not confirmed the acquisition. Anobit’s website says its proprietary technology “significantly improves endurance, performance and cost of flash storage products and systems,” and Apple already uses Anobit’s chips in a number of its mobile devices and notebook computers.

Read

AT&T on Monday announced that it has ended its bid to acquire T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telecom. “The actions by the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice to block this transaction do not change the realities of the U.S. wireless industry,” AT&T said in a press release. “It is one of the most fiercely competitive industries in the world, with a mounting need for more spectrum that has not diminished and must be addressed immediately. The AT&T and T-Mobile USA combination would have offered an interim solution to this spectrum shortage. In the absence of such steps, customers will be harmed and needed investment will be stifled.” AT&T’s bid to acquire T-Mobile USA for $39 billion was met with strong opposition from the Department of Justice, which sued to block the merger, as well as Sprint and other companies which claimed to be concerned that such a merger would have a negative impact on the U.S. wireless market. The DOJ also questioned whether or not such a deal would actually create jobs, as AT&T had repeatedly stated. AT&T will pay T-Mobile a $4 billion breakup fee as a result of its failed acquisition. AT&T’s full press release follows below, as does a letter from T-Mobile USA CEO Phillip Humm.

AT&T Ends Bid to Add Network Capacity Through T-Mobile USA Purchase

Company Reaffirms Its Commitment to Mobile Broadband Leadership

DALLAS, Dec 19, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) — AT&T Inc. said today that after a thorough review of options it has agreed with Deutsche Telekom AG to end its bid to acquire T-Mobile USA, which began in March of this year.

The actions by the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice to block this transaction do not change the realities of the U.S. wireless industry. It is one of the most fiercely competitive industries in the world, with a mounting need for more spectrum that has not diminished and must be addressed immediately. The AT&T and T-Mobile USA combination would have offered an interim solution to this spectrum shortage. In the absence of such steps, customers will be harmed and needed investment will be stifled.

“AT&T will continue to be aggressive in leading the mobile Internet revolution,” said Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and CEO. “Over the past four years we have invested more in our networks than any other U.S. company. As a result, today we deliver best-in-class mobile broadband speeds — connecting smartphones, tablets and emerging devices at a record pace — and we are well under way with our nationwide 4G LTE deployment.

“To meet the needs of our customers, we will continue to invest,” Stephenson said. “However, adding capacity to meet these needs will require policymakers to do two things. First, in the near term, they should allow the free markets to work so that additional spectrum is available to meet the immediate needs of the U.S. wireless industry, including expeditiously approving our acquisition of unused Qualcomm spectrum currently pending before the FCC. Second, policymakers should enact legislation to meet our nation’s longer-term spectrum needs.

“The mobile Internet is a dynamic industry that can be a critical driver in restoring American economic growth and job creation, but only if companies are allowed to react quickly to customer needs and market forces,” Stephenson said.

To reflect the break-up considerations due Deutsche Telekom, AT&T will recognize a pretax accounting charge of $4 billion in the 4th quarter of 2011. Additionally, AT&T will enter a mutually beneficial roaming agreement with Deutsche Telekom.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

Dear colleagues,

Today AT&T and Deutsche Telekom announced they have mutually decided to terminate their agreement for AT&T to acquire T-Mobile USA. This announcement effectively ends the acquisition process launched March 20, including the regulatory approvals process with the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission. Additionally, with the termination of the agreement, T-Mobile will receive certain spectrum licenses and a 3G roaming agreement from AT&T, and AT&T will pay $3B to our parent company, Deutsche Telekom.

What does this mean for T-Mobile USA? Our Challenger Strategy continues as before, with energy and focus. We have seen early successes with our great 4G network, affordable unlimited rate plans and strong Android portfolio. We now have an exciting chance to build upon these and other strengths to bring our business to the next level of success and beyond. We have an opportunity to write our own future – making the latest mobile products and services affordable to more people. We call it “4G for All.” We’ll continue on this path through 4G network leadership, affordable smartphones, being a trusted brand, evolving as a multi-segment player, and executing our Challenger business model.

The leadership team and I will be meeting intensively in the next few weeks on our go-forward plans for the business, to identify and map out any and all options to further strengthen our strategy and prospects for the future.

I know you also want to know what this means in terms of retention bonuses and other details that impact you personally. I promise to make that information available to you in the coming days and weeks on OneVoice and through your leaders.

Most importantly, I want to thank you for the amazing effort and focus each of you put into the business over the last nine months following the acquisition announcement. You performed well under extraordinarily unusual circumstances. Thank you for your ongoing commitment and support.

Let’s now go into the new year and show everyone we are, indeed, ready to be Challengers!

With sincere appreciation,

 

Philipp Humm

CEO & President

T-Mobile USA

Rumors again surfaced on Wednesday suggesting that Nokia plans to sell its smartphone business to Microsoft. Danske Bank, Denmark’s largest bank, issued a report to clients Wednesday morning that said Nokia will sell its smartphone division to Microsoft during the first half of 2012. Danske raised its rating on Nokia stock to Buy from Hold, and shares rose more than 3% on the news. Similar rumors first surfaced in May when an industry insider said Nokia and Microsoft were about to enter negotiations for a deal that could close before the end of 2011. Nokia immediately denied the rumor, though subsequent reports indicated that the two companies had in fact entered into discussions. ”We put these rumors to rest a long time ago,” a Nokia spokesperson said in response to Danske Bank’s new report.

Sprint and C Spire Wireless have decided to postpone lawsuits levied against AT&T. The two carriers had originally filed the suits in hopes of blocking AT&T’s planned  $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom. AT&T recently pulled its merger application from the FCC however, and was granted a stay until January 18th for its lawsuit against the Department of Justice. Sprint originally sued to block the merger in September when it argued the deal would “harm retail consumers and corporate customers by causing higher prices and less innovation.”

Read

Judge Ellen Huvelle approved a joint request by AT&T and the Department of Justice to delay a lawsuit regarding AT&T’s planned purchase of T-Mobile USA. AT&T requested a stay in the suit on Monday and said it was working with Deutsche Telekom to prepare the best defense possible. “We are actively considering whether and how to revise our current transaction to achieve the necessary regulatory approvals so that we can deliver the capacity enhancements and improved customer service that can only be derived from combining our two companies’ wireless assets,” AT&T said in a statement on Monday. The Department of Justice has also sought a delay, or an entire dismissal of the suit, since it believes a ruling is unnecessary now that AT&T has withdrawn its FCC application to purchase T-Mobile USA. “It’s not a real transaction until they file with the FCC,” Justice Department lead attorney Joseph Wayland said recently. The pretrial proceedings for the Department of Justice’s suit against the merger will begin on January 18th, 2012.

Read

AT&T chief executive officer Randall Stephenson recently said in a Captains of Industry interview with Bloomberg that blocking his company’s proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA will increase wireless prices for consumers. Stephenson explained that AT&T needs T-Mobile in order to expand its already strained network capacity, and that Congress doesn’t understand wireless policy. ”Regulators can’t keep up with the changes in the industry,” Stephenson said. AT&T recently withdrew its application from the FCC to acquire T-Mobile USA and said that it will first focus on a lawsuit brought against the merger by the Department of Justice. Should AT&T win the lawsuit, which is expected to begin in February, the carrier will then likely refile its application to purchase T-Mobile with the FCC.

Read

MetroPCS chief financial officer J. Braxton Carter recently said AT&T’s planned $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA is likely to fail. Carter’s comments were made during a UBS investor conference in New York City on Tuesday, during which he said the proposed merger is “almost kind of moot at this point given the intense opposition by the government.” MetroPCS was named as one of several U.S. wireless carriers originally interested in purchasing spectrum from AT&T and T-Mobile. AT&T recently pulled its merger application from the FCC to focus on a lawsuit that was levied against the proposed merger by the United States Justice Department. Hours after AT&T withdrew its application, the FCC released a 109-page report suggesting AT&T was not going to win the FCC’s blessing anyway. AT&T’s lawsuit with the DOJ is expected to go to trial in February of next year.

Read

Gowalla on Monday confirmed it was recently acquired by Facebook. “About two months ago, my co-founder Scott and I attended F8,” Gowalla co-founder and CEO Josh Williams wrote on the company blog Monday. “We were blown away by Facebook’s new developments. A few weeks later Facebook called, and it became clear that the way for our team to have the biggest impact was to work together. So we’re excited to announce that we’ll be making the journey to California to join Facebook.” Gowalla will begin to “wind down” its services in January but will allow users to export their passport and pin data, stamp collections and photos. Williams said Facebook is not acquiring Gowalla’s user data. Neither Facebook nor Gowalla discussed the terms of the acquisition.

Read